Rosemond Mountain or Rosemond Wilkinson ( – died 3 July 1841) was a British actress and

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. She was said to be the "best female singer on the English stage" from 1800.

Life

Wilkinson was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

around 1768 to a family of performers. Her father and maybe an aunt, Isabella, performed on tightropes and her mother also acted and helped. Three of her elder siblings, George, Frederick and Caroline, appeared at Sadler's Wells, before she was born, playing musical glasses and showing balancing skills. She was trained for the theatre by

Charles Dibdin Charles Dibdin (before 4 March 1745 – 25 July 1814) was an English composer, musician, dramatist, novelist, singer and actor. With over 600 songs to his name, for many of which he wrote both the lyrics and the music and performed them himself, ...

but this resulted in only minor roles initially. On 4 November 1782 she appeared in a major role that gave her work until 1784. She played ''Madame Hazard'' in ''Mount Parnassus'' or ''Fairy World'' at the

Surrey Theatre The Surrey Theatre, London began life in 1782 as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy, one of the many circuses that provided entertainment of both horsemanship and drama (hippodrama). It stood in Blackfriars Road, near the jun ...

.L. M. Middleton, 'Mountain , Rosemund (c.1768–1841)', rev. Anne Pimlott Baker, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 4 Feb 2015
/ref> By the end of 1784 she was appearing for

Tate Wilkinson Tate Wilkinson (27 October 173916 November 1803) was an English actor and manager. Life He was the son of a clergyman and was sent to Harrow. His first attempts at acting were badly received, and it was to his wonderful gift of mimicry that he ...

on his York Circuit. Her family travelled north with her, but the coincidence of surname did not indicate that they were related to Tate. She played ''Clarissa'' in ''Lionel and Clarissa'' opposite Dorothy Jordan who played ''Lionel''. Wilkinson started a long association with

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...

in 1786 which continued until 1798. During this time she married John Mountain in 1787. Her husband was initially a violinist but he rose to lead the

Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, being ...

' orchestra until he started to lead the Covent Garden musicians in 1794. By this time "Mrs Mountain" had returned to the theatre after a relatively brief argument with the Covent Garden management from 1792 to 1793. She was able to take major singing roles in

Love in a Village ''Love in a Village'' is a ballad opera in three acts that was composed and arranged by Thomas Arne. A pastiche, the work contains 42 musical numbers of which only five were newly composed works by Arne. The other music is made up of 13 pieces bo ...

as ''Lucinda''. Rosemond Mountain performing John Johnson

At some point she was trained by the Italian

castrato A castrato (Italian, plural: ''castrati'') is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice is produced by castration of the singer before puberty, or it occurs in one who, due to ...

Venanzio Rauzzini Venanzio Rauzzini (19 December 1746 – 8 April 1810) was an Italian castrato, composer, pianist, singing teacher and concert impresario. He is said to have first studied singing under a member of the Sistine Chapel Choir. He was a cantante sopr ...

. She was said to be the "best female singer on the English stage" from 1800 when she appeared as ''Polly'' in the

Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

. In 1807 she had a benefit in Glasgow which included James Kenney's ''False Alarm''. The cast included the comic actress

Mary Ann Orger Mary Ann Orger born Mary Ann Ivers (25 February 1788 – 1 October 1849) was a leading actress in Scotland and Drury Lane. She was a playwright and the mother of composer Caroline Reinagle. Life Ives was born in London in 1788. Her father was a ...

.Joseph Knight, 'Orger , Mary Ann (1788–1849)', rev. J. Gilliland, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 14 March 2015
/ref> In 1819 she appeared as

Maid Marian Maid Marian is the heroine of the Robin Hood legend in English folklore, often taken to be his lover. She is not mentioned in the early, medieval versions of the legend, but was the subject of at least two plays by 1600. Her history and circums ...

in the burletta ''Robin Hood and Little John'' at the Surrey Theatre with

Charles Incledon Charles Benjamin Incledon (pronounced 'Ingledon') (1763–11 February 1826, Worcester) was a Cornish tenor singer, who became one of the foremost English singers of his time, especially in the singing of English theatre music and ballads in which ...

as Robin Hood. Mountain died in

at her home in 1841.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain, Rosemond 1841 deaths 1768 births Actresses from London British sopranos British stage actresses Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 18th-century British actresses 18th-century British women singers 19th-century British actresses 19th-century British women singers Year of birth uncertain